


The Water Holds Secrets

by YokaiKittens



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: F/F, mermaid!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-25
Updated: 2015-07-25
Packaged: 2018-04-11 07:00:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4425860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YokaiKittens/pseuds/YokaiKittens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alice was only trying to survive her cousin's birthday party until she was, quite literally, swept away by a girl with gills.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Water Holds Secrets

Alice was slightly prone to seasickness, and that was probably exactly why Francine had planned her 21st birthday party on her father’s private yacht. Yeah. That was definitely something she’d do. She was always trying to do something to irk the youngest Kirkland daughter, or at least, that was how Alice always perceived the French woman’s friendly advances. And to top it off, the twit had invited her over early to decorate and help set up. Didn’t she have people to do that? Of course she did. She just wanted to ensure that Alice puked on the deck when everyone was there.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Alice heard her cousin say, and she turned her head slightly to see her leaning on the railing, already donned in a wine red dress, billowing softly with the sea breeze. Her pinned up, blonde locks performed the same way, swaying softly, as she gazed out over the ocean. Alice turned away, deciding not to answer. She wanted to get this all done.

It wasn’t as if Alice had any choice in the matter… If she could, she would’ve shoved the hors d'oeuvres down her cousin’s dress and left immediately after arriving. But she faced punishment from her mother if she didn’t go along and spend time with  _dear Francine_.

Francine had turned from the breeze, unappeased with Alice’s silence yet also amused by it. Alice was always amusing to her. “Almost as beautiful as moi, no?” She added, letting out an obnoxious laugh when Alice turned sharply to glare.

“Pass me a wine bottle, will you,  _darling_?” The term was used coldly, but it didn’t erase her cousin’s smile.

Francine moved over to the cooler, pulling out a bottle of white, the one Alice’s mother had provided since it would be Francine’s 21st, and a glass. She held both out to Alice, but pulled the bottle away just as the Briton reached for it. “Ah, but my little cousin is too young, isn’t she?”

Alice glared, snatching the bottle and twisting it open, leaving the glass in Francine’s hand. “So are you,” she returned snappily, before taking a sip to taste it.

“Oui, but not for long, if I remember correctly. Tonight, that will change.” Francine reached for the bottle, but Alice backed away, not allowing her to attain it. She moved back over to the front of the yacht. She didn’t really plan on downing all of it before the party, but getting slightly buzzed might help put her in a better mood.

There was exactly an hour and thirty minutes before people would start showing up. The sun would nearly be beyond the horizon by then, casting a shimmering glow on the murky water. She wished she could forward the time to see that.

But alcohol would have to do. After all, was there a better time traveling machine than drinking so much you blacked out and woke up in the next century? Very efficient.

She had drunk the entire neck of the bottle before she grew tired of standing–and the shoes weren’t helping. Alice made her way across the boat to its tail end, where the deck was mere inches from the water. Francine must’ve gone in the cabin, because Alice didn’t see her anywhere as she crossed the boat. Most likely doing God knows what to fix herself up. What else could the woman possibly  _do_?

Alice slipped off the low heels she wore, sighing slightly as she dipped her feet into the warm water. She leaned against the wall of the yacht, the bottle between her legs, taking sips every now and then to savor the taste on her tongue. She could feel the effects, but it was nothing intense. Hiccuping softly, she lifted the bottle and poured some of it into the water, wondering if it was possible to get fish drunk.

The water was still. Not that she expected to see fish begin jumping out of the water in a drunken stupor, but…well. You never know.

Eventually, she stood, and knowing Francine would gripe at her for getting the deck all wet, pulled open a seat to find a towel and dry off.

“What is that?”

Alice felt her heart leap to her throat, unable to respond in the shriek that she so wanted to let out. How could anyone have gotten that close to her without her noticing? Managing a gasp, she whipped around, eyes scanning the deck somewhat frantically to find the source of the voice.

“Francine?” she questioned, eyes narrowing as she scanned the empty deck. Maybe it was her imagination? Or she was more of a lightweight than she thought? That hadn’t even sounded close to her cousin’s voice…

“I’m right here,” said the voice once more, causing the blonde to go rigid. The water. That was all that was behind her. Her initial thought was that someone was swimming near the docks, but honestly, who would do that? She made to turn toward it.

But that didn’t seem to be enough, because to further grab Alice’s attention, a hand reached out and grabbed her ankle. She saw the arm, the head lifted to look up at her.

Alice ended up nearly face-planting the deck in an effort to get away.

“L…let go–!” Alice shrieked, but was silenced with a yelp as the stranger yanked her toward the edge of the deck so her legs hung off. Alice struggled to sit up, flailing arm and leg, and just barely managing to find a grip on the railing to keep herself from being dragged in the water.

But that didn’t seem to be the stranger’s plan, for she didn’t tug any longer than necessary to get her close to the edge. A she. Alice stared, blinking, at the figure in the water who hadn’t released her ankle yet. Blonde hair, a lighter blonde than Alice’s sandier shade. Bright eyes that matched the hues of the sky, and pretty, sunkissed skin. She may have been slightly younger than Alice, or at least, it seemed that way by the shape of her face.

“Very funny,” Alice sighed, rubbing the elbow she had landed on when she had fallen. “What are you doing in there?” She continued haughtily, pulling her hand from her elbow and reaching to grab the hand on her ankle. If anything, it tightened.

The girl regarded her carefully, a bit too much, really. Particularly at her leg and thigh area. And maybe a few glances down at her feet. More than a few. _Why is she staring at me so much_? Alice wondered, and then moved her hand to tug down her skirt. This was uncomfortable. Why wasn’t she saying anything?

“What is that?” the girl in the water asked again.

Alice blinked. “What?” she responded dumbly, before looking down to the bottle in her hand. “This?”

“It is bitter,” the girl said, licking her lips.

 _What, had she tasted it_? Alice thought, remembering when she had poured it into the water. She had an odd vision of this girl, beneath the water, watching her. Parting her lips to taste what she had dropped into the water.

“I live here,” she then said, and met Alice’s gaze. Though it seemed she had struggled to do simply that, with how intently she had been looking at her legs.

“You live on the docks?” Well, she knew of some people who lived in their yachts, she wouldn’t be surprised if this girl was one of them. “Well, you shouldn’t swim in here. It isn’t safe to swim near the boats.” When Alice didn’t get an immediate response, she continued slowly. “But, uh… There’s a beach, a public beach farther down the shore. A few miles.”

The girl simply stared, blue eyes flicking across Alice in an attempt to take her in, which in turn, made Alice incredibly uncomfortable. This wasn’t even the kind of checking out you’d do to someone attractive, it was just incredibly creepy. “I don’t like it there,” she said finally, shrugging. “They urinate in that water.”

Alice grimaced slightly. “Well, there isn’t really a beach where anyone doesn’t do that.”

The girl didn’t say anything, bobbing in the water, and with the absence of words, the girl continued her odd staring. Alice spared only a second to return the favor. Where was–

“Are you…i-in the nude?” Alice stammered, carefully looking back up at the other blonde.

“The what?”

“Naked. Are you naked?” Not only swimming at the docks, but skinny dipping? Oh, God.

The girl still looked confused. “Are you daft?” Alice asked, but her tone wasn’t exactly as condescending as her words. “Are you wearing anything? On your chest?”

The girl looked down at her chest, as if trying to figure it out herself. “I don’t have anything on my chest.”

“W-Why?”

The girl looked upward, and then reached up with her left hand, lifting herself further from the water. “You mean like what you have here?” She asked, seemingly not even noticing the shocked look she received as her bare chest was revealed to Alice. Her hand touched the cloth of Alice’s top, on her arm, and the Brit could feel the coolness of the stranger’s skin through it.

Alice gasped, placing her hands on the stranger’s shoulders and forcing her back down into the water. “Don’t do that! Uh… Don’t you have any clothing?”

The girl shook her head.

“If you wanted to go to a nudist beach, you’d have better luck in France.” Alice bit her lip, glancing around for Francine. Should she get her? She groaned, already knowing that this would be something she’d regret as she reached back and unhooked her bra. It would be some sizes too small, but it would simply have to work. Slipping off the garment, she asked, “Where do you live?”

“Out there.” And she pointed towards the ocean.

“How informative,” she muttered, passing her the bra. “Put this on, okay? You don’t want anyone to see you, right?” The drenched blonde took it in her left hand, examined it. One hand still on Alice’s ankle. Alice wondered briefly if she even knew how bras worked, but that was just crazy. Maybe she had fallen off her boat? Hit her head? Swam to the docks..?

She didn’t seem that crazy, really. Just confused.

“Alice!” Another voice caused her to turn, beginning to call back to Francine as she exited the cabin. “It’s about time to–”

Francine heard a large splash, and had walked out just in time to see a glimpse of her cousin before she was swallowed by the water. She immediately raced across the deck. “Alice? Alice!” She called into the quickly stilling water.

Francine glanced around, searching the surface, but there was no break in the water. No sign that she had just decided to go for a dip.

And Alice was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm very positive that this has a few errors, but I'm very anxious to put this up and I'm so very impatient. This was originally intended to be a birthday present to someone (albiet, a very LATE b-day present...) but certain things happened with said person and so this ended up sitting in my documents for MONTHS. I initially couldn't decide who would be the mermaid, and I'm still still a bit iffy about it, but I hope you guys enjoy this story.
> 
> EDIT: Thanks to my new beta, AuburnRabbit, this story doesn't look like TOTAL trash. Thank you, hun! <3


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